i have to make a graduation cake for my nephew who recently graduated from high school. he wants a 2 tiers square cake with a graduation cap on the top. any ideas of how i should make the cap? what should i use for the the top of the cap? what should i use for the tassel?

my friend made a grad. cap. she used the wonder mold for the base. and then she use heavy card board , you could use 3/16" foam core board. cover it with fondant. then you use g/p for the tassell. use a garlic press or an extruder. look at some on this site. some people(i do) tell how i make different cakes. it really helps. then if you see one you really like. p/m that person and they usually answer back pretty quick and help you . i always answer back and help. hth

i just looked on sharonssugarshack.com. she tells how she made her. her cake is great of course. so look at that on her blog for may of 2009. she is so great for giving us instructions on this site and her web site. she is the best. hth

I did almost the exact same cake a few weeks ago. 2 tiers, square, with a grad cap as the topper. Of course, I haven't had a chance to post the picture yet on here. Sigh. This cake was for a Saturday, I started the cap on Tuesday or Wednesday.

For the cap, I:

Rolled out black fondant (school colors were black and gold) very thin, cut a round maybe 6ish inches (size of a coffee/tea saucer i believe). Then I dusted some PS over a small custard bowl (was just the right height so that the mortar didn't look like it was squashing the cap), then draped my fondant over that and just let it sit like that for a couple days. When I (carefully) removed the bowl, I had a perfect "cap."

For the mortar board, I:

Found a thin piece of cardboard, measured it to maybe 4 1/2" square (I think, I'd have to look up my measurements in my notebook) and used piping gel to adhere to the cardboard square. Also let that sit a couple days. I then used piping gel to attach the board to the cap.

For the tassle, I:
Rolled 2 fondant "snakes" to maybe 1/4-1/3" width, then wound them together. Secured to center of mortar board and draped over the side onto the top cake tier. For the end of the tassle, I used a ball of gold fondant, rolled it to an oval of sorts and made several cuts (here is where an extruder would have been helpful, but I don't have anything of the sort currently). After I had my fring-y bits, I attached to the end of the tassle. Rolled another small "snake" and wrapped that at the meeting points.

I'll go load those cake pics right now, so pop over to my profile and give them a peek.

Good luck!

Ok, I went and added the pics in. Here's the link, so go take a look. I hope I explained it properly. You can always PM me if you have more questions about it.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1735532